i had such a great day with Tanabe-san! we surfed, ate, surfed, and ate. just a full day of satisfaction!

we checked out bowls in the morning and OMG! it was packed!!! i could have counted over a hundred of hungry surfers. so we decided to go surf my secret spot.

i couldn’t believe how good the waves were today. this spot is very hard to get good. it needs the right wind, the right swell direction, and the right tide for it to work. and today, everything came together and it worked perfectly! after Tanabe-san caught his first wave, he paddled back out with a big smile and said “i’m totally satisfied, i can go back to japan already.” i told him, “hey, this day has only just begun. let’s keep on surfing!” and surfing is what we did. Tanabe-san is a super good surfer. i seen him do 5 big backside turns on one wave and if i were a judge, i would have gave him a 8.5 point ride! and the coolest thing is that nobody else was out. it was just us 2 having fun!

then we went to check bowls again and it was still crowded. so we just watched for a little while. some high performance surfing!

right next to bowls is a spot called “the big bowl.” the waves have to be over 4′ for it to break. today wasn’t really breaking but there was one patient bodyboarder waiting and waiting. then i seen it coming from the horizon. it hit the reef perfectly, the bodyboarder took off, and he got the best barrel of the day at the big bowl! or should i say, the only barrel at the big bowl because that was probably the only good wave that came through. what an awesome photo! i’m stoked i had my camera!

look what us hungry surfers had for lunch! the best prime rib in town! i ate it all and i was still hungry. then we went surfing out at bowls and it wasn’t that crowded. perfect rights and lefts and we surfed until we couldn’t surf no more.

then to waiola shave ice to cool down from a hot hawaiian summer day.

after i dropped off Tanabe-san in the evening, i headed back out to the sea. just as the friday evening sailboat races started, i felt like surfing again so i went surfing again. 3 rounds totaling about 6 hours. surfed till dark!

and seen the coolest rainbow from the ocean.

it’s 10pm and i just got home. another very satisfying day and i’m pretty burnt out. tomorrow i’ll be in the ocean all day long again. but before that, i have to pay my respects to a dear friend who just passed away. with life, comes death. so sad.
goodnight.

OMG! We surfed so much good waves!!!!!!
So happy day!!!!

ok, yesterday was amazing! just lucky all the time. we pulled up to the parking lot at 8:45am. usually the water is packed with hungry surfers that were waiting forever for this summer swell. bowls had 30 guys out. i look at rockpiles and seen nobody? what? i tell Takabayashi-san “hey, let’s go surf rockpiles. it is very low tide now so it’s very shallow. if you go straight and fall, you will die. so just get up and turn right!” he said “ok” and we went.

nobody out when we got out there. we surfed it perfect for 45 minutes. just perfect waves, no stress, and amazing rides. this was Takabayashi-san’s first wave.

ok, to paddle out to any spot on the island of oahu and surf it by yourselves is very rare. we kept on going wave after wave taking turns. it was sunny, the waves were off shore, and it couldn’t have been any better.

they call it Rockpiles because there are piles of rocks in the inside. imagine taking off, going full speed ahead, and running right into these rocks? itai!

after everybody seen us having so much fun, it got crowded. so i tell Takabayashi-san let’s go to Bowls. we paddle down and it was freaking perfect! here is Ronnie on a super good left.

Chuck Andrews on the take off. i’ve known Chuck for 30 years and he’s a very nice man. and a very reputable surfer/shaper from the East side of oahu.

how perfect were the waves today? OMG!!!!! i snapped this shot paddling out this afternoon with Gavin and Liam. it was a day when the 2 boys became 2 men. a big wave will change your life.

i seen this guy catch a really good wave. his name is Justin and i hope he gets this photo somehow.

there were a few freak sets that looked like mountains. imagine surfing for the 6th time in your life and have to paddle out a 11’0 surfboard through this? Gavin was right in the impact zone for 6 consecutive big waves. i was right on his side telling him not to panic. because if he did, he would drown.

look closely on the left side of this photo. no, that isn’t a turtle, that is Gavin. haha. after we finished surfing, i told their mother, “your 2 boys just became men today. congratulations.”